On Saturday, October 6th, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts from Great Bend spread out and walked around their neighborhoods, picking up donations of food for the Barton County Food Bank. The day started at 9:00 am. and continued until the boys and their scoutmasters delivered them to the food bank at 3:00 p.m.

Trees play an important role in the landscape, providing windbreaks and shade, as well as a place to string lights during the holidays. But after two years of drought and extreme heat trees are showing disturbing signs of distress, and even death.

The Environmental Protection Agency will collect soil and water samples this month at the former O'Neill Tank site near the Great Bend Municipal Airport, to determine if there is contamination from hazardous materials. The EPA also plans to collect samples at and around the former Plating Inc. site in the industrial park near the airport. Plating Inc. is a contaminated site that is monitored by EPA's Superfund Division, under a federal program to clean up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites.

Denice Degenhardt's philosophy is "teaching for life by giving hope and help to struggling children and their families," and she is putting it into practice at Sunflower's Early Education Center (EEC).

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Great Bend resident Don Paden has received a special thank you for his contributions to the community. He was selected to receive free fuel from Tanks of Thanks, a new program that rewards people who do good deeds to help make their community just a little bit better.

If gentle, humming alpacas and a romp around farm and pasture aren't enough to tempt the family into the car for a drive in the country Saturday, maybe checking out a "chicken tractor" or visiting a Scottish Highlands steer will. They'll all be on hand at the annual Harvest Festival Open Farm Day at Heartland Farms, operated by the Dominican Sisters of Peace. The event will happen, rain or shine, Saturday, Oct. 6 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at their 80-acre farmstead 14 miles west of Great Bend in Rush County.

LIBERAL - Senior running back Josh Lopez had a pair of first-half touchdown runs and junior running back Jonathan Allende scored two third-quarter TDs, lifting Great Bend High School to a 37-20 road victory over Liberal on Friday night.